Pop
by moonswirl
Summary: Gleekathon, day seventy-two: CBT #1 If Artie gives Tina that look one more time... and he does.


_Started my daily ficlets to make the hiatus pass, then decided to keep going with a second cycle, and then a third cycle Now here comes cycle 4! :D_

_Happy New Year!_

_Had the idea for this seven part series a few weeks ago, got all excited, and now here it is :D The whole thing will come to make new sense in the end ;)_

_Today:_ **_The Cell Block Tango Set:_ Part 1 of 7: Pop [Tina, Artie]**

* * *

**"Pop"  
Tina, Artie**

After she had come clean about her stutter being fake, and Artie had gotten so upset with her, she'd thought for a moment that she might lose him as a friend… as whatever they were almost becoming until she'd told him. She couldn't bear it, so she'd taken it upon herself and she'd gone to speak with him, to have him hear her out.

He had agreed to try and get past it, the both of them resuming their friendship. There had been just the one condition though: she had to stop using the stutter. She'd agreed, feeling that keeping Artie was worth it.

She'd had to reveal it to the others as well. It had gone over fairly well, all things considered. There was a bit of an adjustment period, but then they'd gotten over it.

Tina had needed to adjust as well, for another reason. She'd gotten used to it… her stutter. It wasn't about slipping in and out of it, it was just… second nature. So when she had to just let it go, it was not as easy as she thought.

There were certain moments where she would have really wanted to drop back into it, where her nerves were on edge and she wanted her security back.

But she'd stuck it out, for Artie. She hadn't slipped, not once… until she did, just once. And he'd found out.

He hadn't argued with her, hadn't yelled or even spoken about it… but he'd give her a look.

He'd look at her, and she'd know he was thinking about it, he was thinking she'd broken her word. She'd seen it a few times before it had started to bug her. She'd tried to ignore it, to just put it out of her mind. But he kept on doing it, often not necessarily aimed for her to see, but she'd see it by accident. And the more she saw it, the more it bothered her.

One day she'd had enough, and she had told him to just stop. "I slipped, I'm sorry…" she'd begged. "Just stop, alright?"

She had believed he'd understood, that they were moving back on track again… and then he had his turn of slipping, he'd given the look once again. She wasn't sure what she could have done to provoke it, but it hadn't mattered.

She had officially snapped.

She'd stormed out of Glee practice after seeing the look, not wanting to say something to make it all worse. But as she was walking down the hall, she could hear the wheels behind her. She tried to just keep going, speeding up so she wouldn't have to deal with him. But he had the advantage. He could speed up a lot more than she could.

Eventually she had stopped and turned. "Just leave it. You won't let it go, then just let me be."

"Tina…" he started, but she interrupted him.

"No, no… Look, I'm sorry. I've told you. I've said it… so many times, and I can't do it anymore. I made a mistake, but it was one time. And that look that you've been giving me…" she sighed. "I can't take it again. I asked you to please stop and you didn't. So you've made your choice. I'll leave you alone, if you want it to much."

She stopped, her breath lost in the energy of this speech, feeling her face flush. Artie was just looking up at her. He didn't say a word. He just looked at her. She couldn't tell if he was thinking, or if he was just not going to reply. She waited, she gave him a chance to say something… anything.

After she'd let the silence last about as long as she could bear to let it last before she could it, she'd nodded.

"Fine. I'll see you later," she had felt her throat trembling, near tears. Another beat later, she'd turned and walked away. She couldn't hear the wheels behind her anymore.

She didn't know what was going to happen now. Artie was so much to her. The rest of Glee Club were friends too, no doubt about it, but none was as close to her as Artie.

She wanted things to be normal again. She just didn't know how.

THE END


End file.
